HYDERABAD: Subhash Chandra Foundation of Essel-Zee Group on Friday offered to buy properties of AgriGold Group of Companies, including those attached by the CIDs of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, for Rs 4,000 crore in a four-year period and pay the depositors’ money in a phased manner within the said period.
Senior counsel appearing for the firm, Sri Raghuram, made the submission before a division bench of Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice S V Bhatt dealing with a batch of petitions filed by the Telangana AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association and others seeking a CBI probe into the multi-crore-rupees scam as also the return of the depositors’ monies. Raghuram told the court the foundation was willing to buy the company’s assets despite its value being just Rs 2,200 crore as there was a scope for it to rise in the next four years.
The bench said the issue of “the taking over of AgriGold has reached a crucial stage”. There are three options before the court at the moment — to reject, accept or tweak the proposal. The Bench noted that the court would take into consideration the views of the AP and TS governments, bankers and petitioners before coming to a conclusion. Meanwhile, an AgriGold agent died of heart attack at Kasibugga, Srikakulam.